Legislature briefs: Measure to protect elderly moves on

A bill creating a new crime of financial exploitation of a vulnerable elder won committee approval in the Iowa House on Wednesday, keeping the issue alive for further discussion.

Senate File 2239 makes financially exploiting vulnerable adults age 65 or older a crime ranging from a simple misdemeanor up to a class C felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison. The penalty would depend on the dollar value of the exploitation.

The measure passed 21-0 in the House Judiciary Committee, clearing a procedural deadline and setting up debate on the House floor.

A more expansive Senate version also includes a state-sponsored referral and investigative services for individuals concerned about being victims of such abuse.

Should the bill win approval by the full House, lawmakers from both chambers will negotiate a compromise between the competing versions.

- Jason Noble

Bill on disease transmission passes

A bill rewriting a law criminalizing the transmission of the virus HIV is advancing in the House after winning Senate approval.

The bill expands state laws against transmitting HIV to include other contagious and infectious diseases including hepatitis, tuberculosis and meningitis and requires the transmission to be knowing for criminal charges to be filed.

The bill may not be debated on the House floor.

The version approved Wednesday differs from the version approved in the Senate, potentially setting up negotiations between the chambers on a bill that would go to Gov. Terry Branstad to be signed into law.

- Jason Noble

Weaker radon plan gains approval

A House committee advanced a watered-down version of a long-discussed measure seeking radon testing in Iowa schools.

Under the newly rewritten Senate File 366, the state Department of Education is directed to encourage school districts to test for the presence of cancer-causing radon gas in school buildings and to address high concentrations.

But the bill contains no actual mandate requiring districts to perform the testing.

Earlier versions of the bill required districts to test for the gas and to mitigate buildings with unsafe levels.

That more stringent language was opposed by school officials, however, as a potentially costly unfunded mandate.

Radon is an odorless radioactive gas that occurs naturally in Iowa soil.

It's believed to be the second-leading cause of lung cancer in the United States.

- Jason Noble

Bill targeting meth moves to Senate

Four products would be added to a list of controlled-substance ingredients under a bill approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee intended to discourage the production of methamphetamine.